As an ex-cop is released from prison, the jury remains out on police reform in Chicago

After the Chicago police video of Laquan McDonald’s murder was released in late 2015, I wrote a Chicago Tribune op-ed calling for a Justice Department “pattern and practice” civil rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department. As the resulting consent decree plods along and convicted former Officer Jason Van Dyke was released from prison in early February 2022 on his second-degree murder sentence, it’s still too soon to score the success of reform efforts and assess the legacy of Van Dyke’s conviction, as this Tribune article so well chronicles. My comments in the article reflected on the situation six-plus years after my op-ed: “Right now, the city is in a kind of quagmire of reform,” while Van Dyke’s prosecution and conviction at least set “a standard of accountability.” It was also heartbreaking to read Maureen Dowd’s Jan. 29, 2022, New York Times column, “Rhapsody for a Boy in Blue,” in which she correctly opined that it takes a catastrophe or the “sea of blue” funeral for murdered New York City Police Officer Jason Rivera “to remind us that we should be proud of good cops even as we root out the bad.” Indeed, there are many thousands of Chicago police officers whose service and sacrifice deserves our gratitude and respect, while efforts continue to reform a culture that for too long tolerated corruption and the excessive use of force.